Kadyrov posts video claiming to show his sons fighting against Ukraine

2022-10-20

Putin’s Chechen warlord Kadyrov posts video claiming to show his three sons, 14, 15 and 16, fighting against Ukraine

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov posted video of young sons firing grenades
Kadyrov claimed that Akhmat, 16, Eli, 15, and Adam, 14, were on the frontlines
Video shows the boys firing grenades and shooting from a machine gun

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov has posted a video claiming to show his three teenage sons – aged 14, 15 and 16 – fighting against Ukraine.

Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, shared a video of the young boys firing grenades – apparently close to the frontline.

Kadyrov claimed that Akhmat, 16, Eli, 15, and Adam, 14, ‘made their way close to the enemy positions and provided fire cover for the advancing fighters’ who were fighting against a Ukrainian counter-attack.

Video shows the three boys in camouflage clothing and dark glasses firing grenades and shooting from a machine gun into what appeared to be an empty field. Kadyrov claimed this was on the frontlines.

The video comes days after Kadyrov had claimed he would send his sons to the frontlines in Ukraine.

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov has posted a video claiming to show his three teenage sons – aged 14, 15 and 16 – fighting against Ukraine

Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, shared a video of the young boys firing grenades – apparently close to the frontline

Kadyrov, a former warlord who leads the Muslim-majority Chechnya republic, has been one of Russia’s most vocal supporters of Putin’s Ukraine offensive (Kadryov pictured left with Putin)

‘It’s time to prove themselves in a real fight, I can only welcome this desire,’ Kadyrov wrote on Telegram, posting a video of the young boys firing missiles in a shooting range.

‘Soon they will go to the front line and will be on the most difficult sections of the contact line.

‘They are ready to show their skills in the zone of the special military operation.’

Kadyrov has been one of the most vocal advocates for increased military action in Ukraine and his troops have a reputation for being particularly brutal.

Earlier this month, the Kremlin dismissed statements made by Kadyrov in which he called on Putin to deploy low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine amid Russia’s ailing military campaign.

Kadyrov, a former warlord who leads the Muslim-majority Chechnya republic, has been one of Russia’s most vocal supporters of Putin’s Ukraine offensive.

He was slotted into power by Putin in 2007 to exert control over the region which had fought bloody wars for independence from Moscow throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

Since Russian tanks rolled across the border on February 24, the Chechen leader has consistently called on Russia’s defence ministry to commit additional forces to the conflict and has called on fighting age men in Chechnya to volunteer to go to fight for Russian interests in Ukraine.

A video released on Telegram by Kadyrov showed his sons taking to the shooting range and testing a variety of automatic weapons

Military instructor shows Kadyrov’s teenage sons how to operate a heavy machine gun

Kadyrov has also earned a reputation for forcing his sons to face adversity from an early age.

In 2016 he entered them – then aged 10, 9 and 8 – in a full contact mixed martial arts bout. Footage of the fights went viral and prompted widespread criticism, including from Russian MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko.

The Chechen leader made more headlines earlier this month when he called on Putin to deploy ‘low-yield nuclear weapons’ in Ukraine amid the latest spate of Russian defeats.

‘I do not know what the Defence Ministry reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Putin], but in my personal opinion, we need to take more drastic measures, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons,’ he said.

Kadyrov complained that Putin’s commanders had failed to rout Ukraine’s supposed ‘Satanists and fascists’, and made no bones about his desire for nuclear weapons to be detonated on Ukrainian soil.

He also criticised Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who is in charge of Russia’s forces fighting in the region, calling him ‘mediocre’.

But Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov this morning sought to undermine Kadyrov’s spirited remarks.

One of Kadyrov’s children takes aim downrange with an assault rifle

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tried to calm tensions today after Kadyrov yesterday pushed for the use of nukes on Ukrainian soil

‘This is a very emotional moment. The heads of regions have the right to express their point of view,’ Peskov said in a call with reporters on Monday.

‘But even in difficult moments, emotions should be kept out of any kind of assessment. So we prefer to stick to balanced, objective assessments.

‘In our country, the use of nuclear weapons happens only on the basis of what is stated in the relevant doctrine.’

The Kremlin mouthpiece nevertheless hailed the ‘heroic contributions’ of the Chechen leader to the military operation in Ukraine.

Last month, Putin warned the West he was ‘not bluffing’ when he said Russia was prepared to use nuclear weapons to protect its territory.

On Friday he said the United States had created a ‘precedent’ by dropping nuclear bombs on Japan at the end of World War Two.

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